Royal approval for 200,000 hours of volunteering

VOLUNTEERS at a county heritage centre are celebrating after getting royal recognition for their efforts.

Mountsorrel and Rothley Community Heritage Centre was chosen for The Queen’s Award For Voluntary Service in the Birthday Honours.

A spokesperson for the group said that, since 2007, hundreds of “passionate and dedicated” volunteers from the surrounding communities have contributed almost 200,000 hours to restore the Mountsorrel railway line and to then create the Heritage Centre with museums, nature trails, a quarry heritage building and other areas of interest for local history and wildlife.

The heritage centre opened to the public in 2016, since when visitor numbers had grown to almost 140,000 per year before the pandemic.

It has attracted royal interest before, with HRH The Prince of Wales visiting in 2017 and HRH The Duke of Gloucester in July last year.

Managing director Steve Cramp said it was a great honour.

“It is fantastic to be recognised for all the hard work our many volunteers have put in over the past 13 years to make our site somewhere for the community to learn about their local history and wildlife,” said Steve. “It really goes to show just what communities can achieve when they work together.”

The award is the highest that can be bestowed onto a voluntary organisation – the equivalent of an MBE.

Leicestershire’s Lord Lieutenant,

Michael Kapur, gave his congratulations to all the volunteers at the Heritage Centre.

“This is a community centre run entirely by volunteers who have, together, created a truly remarkable visitor experience, which inspires people of all ages to discover more about their local, industrial and social heritage.”